Notes: Okay, thanks to everyone who's reviewed, most people liked it and that makes me happy. :) I do need to add that yes, while I tried to keep everyone in character as much as possible, Hermione is very off. Reason being that I just couldn't resist having her as this character. I'll see if I can make it a bit more credible though! And to the person who said that Harry was supposed to be at school with them, that's one of those AU things I was talking about. :) This chapter's a little slow and I apologise for that, but I decided to add in a little back story before getting on to the plot that we all know and love.
Chapter 2:
Everyone was getting ready to leave Hogwarts. Hermione had been asked by Dumbledore to take Sarah with her on the Hogwarts Express.
"Don't introduce her to too many things at once," Hermione said sarcastically to herself, mimicking the instructions Dumbledore had given her earlier. There had been many. Hermione couldn't see why it was so important that Sarah attend Hogwarts. After all, not every muggle-born child that got an acceptance letter decided to go there. With her packing finished ahead of schedule, Hermione decided to head down to the common room and curl up with a book. That part of her good girl image was for real, at least. She did enjoy her classes and she loved studying. She sometimes wondered just how much Draco really knew about her. He thought she'd always been the evil mastermind he knew, but she hadn't. She sat on a chair in one corner of the Gryffindor common room.
Nobody took any notice of her. After all, she was going to be Head Girl next year. They weren't about to question anything she did. She thought back to where it all began. Early on in third year, she'd been lying in bed with her curtains drawn around. The others in her room evidently thought she was sleeping because they started talking about her. Looking back, she thought that maybe they'd wanted her to hear, but at the time she was devastated.
"Hermione Granger is such a pain," one of them had said.
"I know! She acts so bossy and like she's so much better than the rest of us."
"Yeah, and she's not even a proper witch!"
"It was probably just a freak accident."
Hermione had sat in her bed, crying softly. She'd known she wasn't popular, but she had no idea that nobody liked her.
She was different after that. She stopped raising her hand in class constantly, although she still always knew the answers. When she'd finished in class, she offered to help those that needed it. She began listening to other people's ideas, rather than demanding that they do it her way. Her classmates began to talk to her more and include her in things. She'd eat dinner with those same girls who had been gossiping about her. She'd laugh at their jokes and add in the odd comment. But she hated them.
Then, one day, the perfect opportunity came. One of those girls, Lavender Brown, asked Hermione for help. Lavender was in love, or so she claimed, with a fifth year Ravenclaw student. At first Hermione went out of her way to help them meet each other in secret. But one night, when she'd arranged for them to meet in a classroom near Filtch's office, she put her plan into practice. Waiting until they were heavily engrossed in each other, she rapped sharply on Filtch's door, before hiding herself nearby. He came out, and it wasn't long before he discovered the pair in the classroom. He took them both into his office and Hermione could here Lavender crying. Hermione had to stop herself from laughing when she heard Filtch say that they would both be sent to see Dumbledore in the morning. At the time, she thought that was a little severe for just being caught out at night, but she soon learned the reason from Lavender. She crept back to the Gryffindor tower and was safely in bed before Lavender got in.
"Lavender? What happened?" Hermione asked softly, sounding truly concerned.
"Oh, Hermione! It was awful!" Lavender rushed to Hermione's bed, still crying. Between sobs, she managed to explain that she and the Ravenclaw had been in various stages of undress when Filtch caught them. It was obvious what they were planning to do, and equally obvious that, as third years, they shouldn't have been. Hermione hugged the sobbing girl, secretly trying to hide a smile. It was better than she'd hoped for.
In fact, things turned out perfectly for Hermione. Lavender's parents were informed of the incident and her hysterical mother took her away from Hogwarts the next day, despite the fact that the Christmas vacation was going to begin the following week. She pretended to be as shocked as the others, hiding her glee. By then, she'd had a sense of what it felt like to cause someone so much pain and she enjoyed it. At first, that surprised her. But she supposed that if she could no longer answer every question in class any more, she had to do SOMETHING to make herself feel superior. So she kept doing it. People would ask for her help and she would ensure that, eventually, everything went wrong. She was very careful in how she did it, knowing that she would be expelled herself, if she were ever found out. There was also the little matter of her turning into quite the slut. Something else that nobody would have expected from her. But over the Christmas break she lost her virginity and discovered just how much fun sex was.
Nobody ever suspected. Well, almost nobody. She'd never been able to fool Draco Malfoy. It was towards the end of third year that he'd confronted her. She still remembered the conversation. He'd cornered her after potions, dragging her into the nearest empty room.
"But I've got Herbology," she'd tried to protest.
"What's with this 'nice girl' act?" he'd asked, ignoring her protests and trying to shock her. She had to admit, it had worked.
"What are you talking about?"
"You heard me." He smiled lazily, just looking at her. "I know your little secret."
In an odd way, that's how they'd come to be - well, not friends exactly. More like partners. Business partners. Draco and his reputation. It was a little harder for Hermione to find someone to take advantage of, but she always enjoyed her visits to Hogsmeade, with only Draco knowing the real reason why. She wondered at the stupidity of Hogwarts students - all of them knowing about Draco's reputation and yet falling over themselves to be the one in his bed. Idiots. They deserved whatever they got.
'Draco and I. What an odd combination,' Hermione mused, surfacing from her memories. The common room was almost empty - she needed to get moving or she'd be late. She collected her things from her room and went to Dumbledore's office. Sarah was there with her mother, both looking nervous. Reverting back to angel mode, Hermione took Sarah gently by the arm and led her away, down the stairs to the coaches.
"You'll love Hogwarts," she told the girl.
Several other students, including Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas, joined them. Both boys couldn't stop staring at Sarah. 'I suppose she is passably attractive,' Hermione admitted to herself. 'Still, once I'm through with her, it's not going to be her looks they're after.'
'Sarah, this is Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas. Boys, this is Sarah..." too late, Hermione realised she'd never learned the girl's last name.
"Reilly. Sarah Reilly." Sarah looked shyly at Ron, smiling slightly.
'Give me a break,' Hermione thought. "Right. Sarah Reilly."
"Pleased to meet you," Ron said to Sarah. Dean nudged him in the ribs and he blushed slightly.
'I'll be you are,' Hermione thought, looking at the two. 'Hm. An idea presents itself.'
It was on the Hogwarts Express that Hermione began planning. If she could get Ron to go near Sarah enough, then she was sure Sarah would think herself in love with him. Then, she could call Sarah's mother who'd naturally be very concerned. Poor little Sarah would be heartbroken and in just the right frame of mind to begin slut lessons. There was the little problem of Ron Weasley not being able to do anything, though. Apart from Quidditch, she didn't see that he'd be able to teach Sarah anything. She couldn't get him to teach Sarah simple spells either, because if anyone was going to teach the girl something it would be Hermione herself. 'I suppose I could take her to the Weasley's,' Hermione mused. That might work. She could take Sarah to visit the Weasley's on the pretence of allowing the girl to see what a real wizarding family was like. Then, she'd just have to make sure Ron and Sarah spent a lot of time together and hopefully he'd then be making his own excuses to be near the girl.
"...Don't you think?"
"Pardon?" Hermione looked at Sarah. The girl had obviously been chattering away, oblivious to the fact that Hermione was paying her no attention.
"I said that Ron and Dean seemed very nice."
"Oh. Yes, they are." Was it too early to start putting suggestions in the girl's head? Of course not. "Especially Ron. Just between you and me, he's had a very difficult year. His girlfriend broke up with him not too long ago and Ron was heartbroken. He really loved her." That much was true. There was no need to tell Sarah who the girlfriend had been. 'It wasn't as if I ever cared about him anyway,' she told herself. If she was completely honest with herself, it hadn't been easy telling Ron that it was over. She didn't love him, but she knew him well enough that she didn't want to hurt him. He was her one failing. They were 'still friends' due to her weakness. She had to admit, however, that his 'friendship' had come in handy on more than one occasion. She sometimes wondered if she should have stayed with him, if maybe she'd have learned to love him over time. But she was who she was. She'd changed. And this Hermione cared for nobody. Especially not Ron Weasley.
The rest of the trip passed in a blur for Hermione. She managed to have a half-decent conversation with Sarah, but her mind was on other matters. About five minutes before the train was due to pull into the station, Draco appeared at the door.
"Granger. Who might this be?"
"None of your business, Malfoy," Hermione snapped. She turned to Sarah with a smile on her face. "This is Draco Malfoy. Unfortunately he's the new Head Boy of Hogwarts. Excuse me for a moment while I get rid of him."
"Of course," Sarah said, watching Hermione leave.
Hermione and Draco found an empty compartment and slipped in.
"What do you want?" Hermione asked curtly.
"Just wondering if our plans for the break are as before."
Hermione nodded. "My parents are away, feel free to come and go as you please. We'll tell Sarah I need to work with you on school related things. Besides, I want to be kept up to date on the status of our bet. The sooner I get those magic books, the better."
"Are you sure you don't want to give in now?" Draco asked, leaning close to Hermione.
She laughed, pushing him away gently. "Oh no. I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer. Harry Potter defeated You-Know-Who and you think you're going to be the one to break down his defences."
"Oh, you laugh now, but just you wait."
Hermione stood up. "I need to get back to Sarah."
"Right. Guess I'll be seeing you soon then."
"I look forward to it."
Hermione was smiling as she joined Sarah again.
"Did you get rid of him?" Sarah asked.
"Of course. But I need to warn you, he and I need to work on school things over this break so you might see him around my house sometime. Don't worry, he's not dangerous. He's just rather unpleasant to be around."
"Not like Ron," Sarah said, before clamping a hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean to say that!" she exclaimed in a rush.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone," Hermione assured the younger girl. "Oh, and Ron hates Malfoy with a passion, so it's probably best if you don't mention it to Ron if you see him around. Not that you'll be necessarily talking to Ron," she added hastily. "But we'll see." Stepping out of the train with Sarah in tow, she saw Draco being lead away by his mother. His father had died two years ago, but there never seemed to be much love lost between them. 'This should be an interesting break,' Hermione thought as she took Sarah through the barrier and went out to hail a taxi. 'And I really can't wait to start reading Draco's magic books.'
Chapter 2:
Everyone was getting ready to leave Hogwarts. Hermione had been asked by Dumbledore to take Sarah with her on the Hogwarts Express.
"Don't introduce her to too many things at once," Hermione said sarcastically to herself, mimicking the instructions Dumbledore had given her earlier. There had been many. Hermione couldn't see why it was so important that Sarah attend Hogwarts. After all, not every muggle-born child that got an acceptance letter decided to go there. With her packing finished ahead of schedule, Hermione decided to head down to the common room and curl up with a book. That part of her good girl image was for real, at least. She did enjoy her classes and she loved studying. She sometimes wondered just how much Draco really knew about her. He thought she'd always been the evil mastermind he knew, but she hadn't. She sat on a chair in one corner of the Gryffindor common room.
Nobody took any notice of her. After all, she was going to be Head Girl next year. They weren't about to question anything she did. She thought back to where it all began. Early on in third year, she'd been lying in bed with her curtains drawn around. The others in her room evidently thought she was sleeping because they started talking about her. Looking back, she thought that maybe they'd wanted her to hear, but at the time she was devastated.
"Hermione Granger is such a pain," one of them had said.
"I know! She acts so bossy and like she's so much better than the rest of us."
"Yeah, and she's not even a proper witch!"
"It was probably just a freak accident."
Hermione had sat in her bed, crying softly. She'd known she wasn't popular, but she had no idea that nobody liked her.
She was different after that. She stopped raising her hand in class constantly, although she still always knew the answers. When she'd finished in class, she offered to help those that needed it. She began listening to other people's ideas, rather than demanding that they do it her way. Her classmates began to talk to her more and include her in things. She'd eat dinner with those same girls who had been gossiping about her. She'd laugh at their jokes and add in the odd comment. But she hated them.
Then, one day, the perfect opportunity came. One of those girls, Lavender Brown, asked Hermione for help. Lavender was in love, or so she claimed, with a fifth year Ravenclaw student. At first Hermione went out of her way to help them meet each other in secret. But one night, when she'd arranged for them to meet in a classroom near Filtch's office, she put her plan into practice. Waiting until they were heavily engrossed in each other, she rapped sharply on Filtch's door, before hiding herself nearby. He came out, and it wasn't long before he discovered the pair in the classroom. He took them both into his office and Hermione could here Lavender crying. Hermione had to stop herself from laughing when she heard Filtch say that they would both be sent to see Dumbledore in the morning. At the time, she thought that was a little severe for just being caught out at night, but she soon learned the reason from Lavender. She crept back to the Gryffindor tower and was safely in bed before Lavender got in.
"Lavender? What happened?" Hermione asked softly, sounding truly concerned.
"Oh, Hermione! It was awful!" Lavender rushed to Hermione's bed, still crying. Between sobs, she managed to explain that she and the Ravenclaw had been in various stages of undress when Filtch caught them. It was obvious what they were planning to do, and equally obvious that, as third years, they shouldn't have been. Hermione hugged the sobbing girl, secretly trying to hide a smile. It was better than she'd hoped for.
In fact, things turned out perfectly for Hermione. Lavender's parents were informed of the incident and her hysterical mother took her away from Hogwarts the next day, despite the fact that the Christmas vacation was going to begin the following week. She pretended to be as shocked as the others, hiding her glee. By then, she'd had a sense of what it felt like to cause someone so much pain and she enjoyed it. At first, that surprised her. But she supposed that if she could no longer answer every question in class any more, she had to do SOMETHING to make herself feel superior. So she kept doing it. People would ask for her help and she would ensure that, eventually, everything went wrong. She was very careful in how she did it, knowing that she would be expelled herself, if she were ever found out. There was also the little matter of her turning into quite the slut. Something else that nobody would have expected from her. But over the Christmas break she lost her virginity and discovered just how much fun sex was.
Nobody ever suspected. Well, almost nobody. She'd never been able to fool Draco Malfoy. It was towards the end of third year that he'd confronted her. She still remembered the conversation. He'd cornered her after potions, dragging her into the nearest empty room.
"But I've got Herbology," she'd tried to protest.
"What's with this 'nice girl' act?" he'd asked, ignoring her protests and trying to shock her. She had to admit, it had worked.
"What are you talking about?"
"You heard me." He smiled lazily, just looking at her. "I know your little secret."
In an odd way, that's how they'd come to be - well, not friends exactly. More like partners. Business partners. Draco and his reputation. It was a little harder for Hermione to find someone to take advantage of, but she always enjoyed her visits to Hogsmeade, with only Draco knowing the real reason why. She wondered at the stupidity of Hogwarts students - all of them knowing about Draco's reputation and yet falling over themselves to be the one in his bed. Idiots. They deserved whatever they got.
'Draco and I. What an odd combination,' Hermione mused, surfacing from her memories. The common room was almost empty - she needed to get moving or she'd be late. She collected her things from her room and went to Dumbledore's office. Sarah was there with her mother, both looking nervous. Reverting back to angel mode, Hermione took Sarah gently by the arm and led her away, down the stairs to the coaches.
"You'll love Hogwarts," she told the girl.
Several other students, including Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas, joined them. Both boys couldn't stop staring at Sarah. 'I suppose she is passably attractive,' Hermione admitted to herself. 'Still, once I'm through with her, it's not going to be her looks they're after.'
'Sarah, this is Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas. Boys, this is Sarah..." too late, Hermione realised she'd never learned the girl's last name.
"Reilly. Sarah Reilly." Sarah looked shyly at Ron, smiling slightly.
'Give me a break,' Hermione thought. "Right. Sarah Reilly."
"Pleased to meet you," Ron said to Sarah. Dean nudged him in the ribs and he blushed slightly.
'I'll be you are,' Hermione thought, looking at the two. 'Hm. An idea presents itself.'
It was on the Hogwarts Express that Hermione began planning. If she could get Ron to go near Sarah enough, then she was sure Sarah would think herself in love with him. Then, she could call Sarah's mother who'd naturally be very concerned. Poor little Sarah would be heartbroken and in just the right frame of mind to begin slut lessons. There was the little problem of Ron Weasley not being able to do anything, though. Apart from Quidditch, she didn't see that he'd be able to teach Sarah anything. She couldn't get him to teach Sarah simple spells either, because if anyone was going to teach the girl something it would be Hermione herself. 'I suppose I could take her to the Weasley's,' Hermione mused. That might work. She could take Sarah to visit the Weasley's on the pretence of allowing the girl to see what a real wizarding family was like. Then, she'd just have to make sure Ron and Sarah spent a lot of time together and hopefully he'd then be making his own excuses to be near the girl.
"...Don't you think?"
"Pardon?" Hermione looked at Sarah. The girl had obviously been chattering away, oblivious to the fact that Hermione was paying her no attention.
"I said that Ron and Dean seemed very nice."
"Oh. Yes, they are." Was it too early to start putting suggestions in the girl's head? Of course not. "Especially Ron. Just between you and me, he's had a very difficult year. His girlfriend broke up with him not too long ago and Ron was heartbroken. He really loved her." That much was true. There was no need to tell Sarah who the girlfriend had been. 'It wasn't as if I ever cared about him anyway,' she told herself. If she was completely honest with herself, it hadn't been easy telling Ron that it was over. She didn't love him, but she knew him well enough that she didn't want to hurt him. He was her one failing. They were 'still friends' due to her weakness. She had to admit, however, that his 'friendship' had come in handy on more than one occasion. She sometimes wondered if she should have stayed with him, if maybe she'd have learned to love him over time. But she was who she was. She'd changed. And this Hermione cared for nobody. Especially not Ron Weasley.
The rest of the trip passed in a blur for Hermione. She managed to have a half-decent conversation with Sarah, but her mind was on other matters. About five minutes before the train was due to pull into the station, Draco appeared at the door.
"Granger. Who might this be?"
"None of your business, Malfoy," Hermione snapped. She turned to Sarah with a smile on her face. "This is Draco Malfoy. Unfortunately he's the new Head Boy of Hogwarts. Excuse me for a moment while I get rid of him."
"Of course," Sarah said, watching Hermione leave.
Hermione and Draco found an empty compartment and slipped in.
"What do you want?" Hermione asked curtly.
"Just wondering if our plans for the break are as before."
Hermione nodded. "My parents are away, feel free to come and go as you please. We'll tell Sarah I need to work with you on school related things. Besides, I want to be kept up to date on the status of our bet. The sooner I get those magic books, the better."
"Are you sure you don't want to give in now?" Draco asked, leaning close to Hermione.
She laughed, pushing him away gently. "Oh no. I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer. Harry Potter defeated You-Know-Who and you think you're going to be the one to break down his defences."
"Oh, you laugh now, but just you wait."
Hermione stood up. "I need to get back to Sarah."
"Right. Guess I'll be seeing you soon then."
"I look forward to it."
Hermione was smiling as she joined Sarah again.
"Did you get rid of him?" Sarah asked.
"Of course. But I need to warn you, he and I need to work on school things over this break so you might see him around my house sometime. Don't worry, he's not dangerous. He's just rather unpleasant to be around."
"Not like Ron," Sarah said, before clamping a hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean to say that!" she exclaimed in a rush.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone," Hermione assured the younger girl. "Oh, and Ron hates Malfoy with a passion, so it's probably best if you don't mention it to Ron if you see him around. Not that you'll be necessarily talking to Ron," she added hastily. "But we'll see." Stepping out of the train with Sarah in tow, she saw Draco being lead away by his mother. His father had died two years ago, but there never seemed to be much love lost between them. 'This should be an interesting break,' Hermione thought as she took Sarah through the barrier and went out to hail a taxi. 'And I really can't wait to start reading Draco's magic books.'